Hosiery



P 1945- R. DAVIS I 2,384,079

HOSIERY Filed July 24, 1943 V a! W. I m LWQM T W WWW Wm 2.4 INVENTOR ROBERT E. DF\V I S V BY MM QI- ATTORN EY Patented Sept. 4, 1945 HOSIERY Robert E. Davis, Fort Payne, Ala.) assignor to W. B.

Davis & Son, Inc., Fort Payne, Ala., a corporation of Alabama.

Application July24, 1943, Serial No. 496,041 7 SCIaims. (01. 66-182) Y The invention relates to hosiery andmore'particularly to the toe thereof. It is customary to knit so-called seamless socks .on plain knitting machines having heel and toe mechanisms for reciprocatingtheknitting cylinder to form the heels and toes of the socks. While the heel and toe mechanism completely forms the heel of the sock, it is necessary to remove the sock from the knitting machineto complete the toe. It i customary to 'sewupthe open edges of the toe by a separate: machine known as a looper. This method of makingsocks is open to the objections that'the sewing operation requires a complicated machine,skilled labor and is time consuming. These objections are multiplied when it is desired to place ter'r'y' knit in the toe to make acushion toe.

The'present invention ha for its object toform,

an-improved toe by eliminating the toe looping operation and 'to substitute therefor, a simple stitchingoper'ation capable of :being performed by comparatively unskilled labor/ According to a preferred'method of practising the invention aseamless sock is made upon {a tubular knitting machine having heel and toe 'rnechanis'rn; the top; leg portion, the heel and the foot portion being formed in' a generally conventional manner. Instead of forming the toe 'by the heel and'toe mechanism, theknitting machine continues to rotate, forming a succession of complete courses for a distance corresponding to the length of the toe. Incorporated with the thread at the beginning of the .toe portion is an additional thread forming terry loops on the inside surface of the fabric. After forming the tubular, terry toe extension the sock is removed from the knitting machine and pressed into fiat position. The sock is then turned wrong side out and th fiattened toe portion is cut to form tapered or rounded edges and the cut edges are stitched on an ordinary edging machine such as a Merrow sewing machine or seamer having sewing and binding threads. The seam projects on the inside of the sock when turned right side out. i The invention alsoconsists in certain new and original features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be particularl pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be car- ;ried out, may be better understood by referring to the-following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, in which 1 Fig. 1 is an outside view of the finished sock according to the invention after being boarded into fiat position; i

Fig. 2 is a view corresponding sock of Fig. 1 turned inside out;

. Fig. 3 is a detail of thefoot of the sock illustrating a stage in the manufacture of the complete sock; r

Fig. 4 is an exaggerated viewillustratin-gterry knit fabric;

Fig. 5 is a detail view, largely diagrammatic, showing a portion of the inside of the sock and illustrating the stitched seam according to the invention; and

to ,Fig. 1 of the Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view taken onthe line 6-6 of Fig. 5. r v I In the following description and in the claims, various'details will be identified by specific names for convenience, [but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the art will permit.

Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing. In the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification, certain specific disclosureof the invention is made for purposes of explanation, but it will be understood that the details may be modified in various respects without departure from the broad aspectof the. invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the sock-shown comprises a rib knit top I0, aplain knit leg portion II, a plain knit heel pocket I2, a plain knit foot P ion and a terry knit toe portion I4 I whose edges are connected by seam l5.

The top Ill is turned over and in and sewed to the leg portion by seam 9. Although the top I0 is shown to be a rib knit, turned down top, it is obvious that this top may be of any of the well known constructions, su-chpas a mock rib top or an elastic top of a the type shown in my Patent No. 2,306,246, dated December 22,1942.

The leg portion H is preferablyplainknit on a tubular knitting machine with'the courses extending continuously around the tube in" the The foot portion |3,also comedges are formed outside of the terry area.

seam may conveniently extend to a point 33 some-' The sock is then removed from the knitting" f The seam I5 is constructed without any regard to machine, is turned wrong side out and pressed flat into the position corresponding to that ,of Fig. 2. The flattened tube iscut and stitched along the line indicated by 29 in Fig. 3 to form seam [5. Any stitching machine may be used but it is preferred to use a Merrow sewing machine or seamer which cuts the fabric as it seams.

The sewing operation is performed with the sock turned inside out with the terry fabric exposed and the seam I5 is made using two threads 23 and 24.

The shape of the line 29 and corresponding seam may vary, depending upon the shape of the I toe desired,,and it may intersect the side edge of the tube at any desired distance from the margin 32 of the terry knit area, provided no out The what'short of the margin 32 of the terry loop area. 7

The terry fabric cooperates with the stitched seam I 5' ma novel and efficient way which will be more apparent from a consideration of Figs. 4 to 6. Figure 4 is an enlarged exaggerated view ofa section of terry fabric including courses A, B and C and wales W, X, Y and Z. In this figure 1 the backing yarn is denoted by Hi and the terry yarn by HQ The sinker loops of the backing yarn are denoted by it? and the terry loops by Hi. The needle loops of both the terry yarn and backing yarn are denoted by 20. It will thus be seen that the terry loops H3 form the well known characteristic pile. It will be seen that the line of cut 29 of the terry fabric extends both coursewise and walewise of the terry fabric. The seam i5 is formed by stitching the projecting edges or welts 2'l'of the toe flaps by a seam having an 3 outer? thread 23 and an inner or binding thread 24', the inner thread enclosing the loose cut. edges of the welts 2'! as illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. 5 and 6.

The threads 23 and 24 are stitched in the form of an edging. stitch in which the loops 25 and 28 of the outer thread 23 pass through the fabric and across the outside of the sock and engage loops 30 and 3! of the inner thread 24 on the inner side of the sock, thus securely locking the seam against opening and binding in the cut edges or welts 2] to provide a neat appearing and soft seam l5.

After the'seam 15 is completed, the sock is turned right side out and boarded and pressed flat in the usual manner to obtain a sock having the appearance of Fig. 1.

The present toe construction has many advantages over conventional toe constructions both two-thread seam 25 on a Merrow sewing machine or seamer is a much simpler and quicker operation than connecting the free edges of a sock toe madewith a conventional heel and toe mechpassing the seam threads through any particular loops of the fabric but the long pile of the terry fabric prevents runs notwithstanding. The twothread seam encloses the cut edges of the .fabric and the terry pile helps cushion this seam.

Furthermore, the seam I 5 is so located as to extend from a midpoint on the top of the toe to a midpoint on the bottom, when worn, and is thus so located as to be conveniently positioned between the toes of the wearer.

The terry knit toe'is softer-and better'wearing than the conventional toe. It is not necessary to brush the terry loops into individual fibers.

- In fact, it is preferable not to brush the terry loops since brushed terry loops have a tendency to felt or mat and become hard.

The formation of the terry toe according to the invention speeds up the operation of the knitting machineby eliminating the reciprocating movement necessary to form the conventional toe. The method also simplifies the knitting machine in that the-use of terry mechanism with a continuously rotating machine does not require as complicated a set-up as terry mechanism with reciprocating heel and toe mechanism.

While certain novel features of the invention have been disclosed herein, and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes may be made by thoseskilled. in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

' What is claimed is:

l. A seamless hose including a top; a leg portion and foot portion, said leg portion and said foot portion comprising tubular plain knit fabric rwhose courses extend entirely around the tube of the hose, said leg. portion and foot portion having a heel pocket thereb'etween of plain knit fabric having courses extending part way around the tube of the hose, and a toe portion comprising tapered side flaps having curved cut edges, said side flaps comprising plain knit fabric having terry loops on the inside and whose courses extend continuously from edge to edge, a stitched seam connecting said curved cut'edges, said seam comprising parallel welts formed by said edges projecting on the inside of the hose, an outer thread on the outside of the hose and passing through said welts, and an inner thread interengaged with said outer thread and binding the edges of said welts, said terry loops cushioning said seam, said seam extending from a midpoint on the top of the toe ,to a midpoint on the bottom of the toe in such position as to be adjustableubetween the toes of the wearer.

2.'The eth d of making seamless hose which comprises plain knitting on a tubular knitting machine the leg portion to forma plurality of courses extending continuously around the tube, plain knitting a'heel portion to form a plurality of variable length courses extending part way around the. tube; plain knitting a foot portion and then a toe portion to form a plurality of courses extending continuously around the tube, incorporating an additional yarn at the beginning of the toe portion to form terry loops on the inside of the tube, removing the hose from the knitting machine, turning the hose inside out, flattening the tubular toe portion, cutting said toe portion to form tapered toe flaps, abutting the edges of said flaps to form parallel welts and stitching and binding said welts to form a seam on the inside of the hose.

3. The method of making seamless hose which comprises plain knitting on a tubular knitting machine the leg portion to form a plurality of courses extending continuously around the tube, plain knitting a heel portion to form a plurality of variable length courses extending part way around the tube, plain knitting a foot portion and then a toe portion to form a plurality of courses extending continuously around the tube, incorporating an additional yarn at the beginning of the toe portion to form terry loops on the inside of the tube, removing the hose from the knitting machine, turning the hose inside out, flattening the tubular toeportion, cutting both sides thereof to form tapered toe flaps, abutting the edges of said flaps to form parallel welts and connecting said abutting welts by an outer thread passing through said welts and an inner thread interengaging said outer thread to bind said welts and to form a seam on the inside of the hose.

I ROBERT E. DAVIS. 

